...Jet Propulsion Laboratory Harvard Business School Case 9-110-031 1.1 Should Gentry Lee recommend launch or delay for the Mars Biological Explorer (MBE) mission? Gentry Lee should recommend the launch for the MBE mission. As stated in the case study, Gentry Lee is introduced to the project with a significant amount of experience working with NASA and interplanetary exploration missions (Kaplan and Mikes, 2010). Multiple review boards took place to discuss in detail the consequences and likelihood of risks occurring. Tiger teams were established to find resolutions to existing problems weeks before the launch date. The case study eludes to a high probability of the budget increasing if the launch is delayed, and the probability the mission would not be successful was low. Because of this, Gentry Lee should recommend the launch of the MBE mission. 1.2 What are the most important factors to consider in this mission? JPL invested substantial time “Identifying, measuring, and applying risk factors against the value opportunity and the cost of failure” (VMware 2013). This methodology was a key process to deciding to launch or delay the launch of MBE. One factor that had an impact is regarding the current team members. Because CalTech operated Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), it is likely that the majority of engineers part of the mission team, were new graduates from CalTech. At that moment in the project life cycle, engineers have been in place for years and gained...
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...test flight for a dozen new high-risk advanced technologies. Such technologies included SCARLET II, xenon ion engine, solar concentrator array, autonomous navigation plus two other autonomy experiments, small transponder, Ka-band solid state power amplifier, and experiments in low power electronics, power switching, and multifunctional structures. Deep Space 1 also encountered Comet Borrelly and returned the best images and other science data ever from a comet. The Deep Space 1 was the first of a series of technology demonstration probes developed by NASA’s New Millennium Program. Its primary mission was to prove innovative new technologies for future spacecraft. The project manager for Deep Space 1 was Dr. Marc Rayman of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. While the spacecraft accomplished a planetary-class mission, the asteroid encounter was not a required aspect of the mission. The encounter was only a bonus in the primary mission. NASA approved the extended mission to Comet Wilson Harrington in August 1999. Then the spacecraft’s sole star tracker failed in November 1999. A seven-month rescue effort succeeded in recovering the capability to operate the spacecraft without the star tracker, but the rescue excluded encountering both comets. On December 18, 2001, with no further technology objectives and no further science objectives, the spacecraft was commanded into a storage configuration with the transmitter off but the receiver left on. The goal here is to present the Deep Space...
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...the Mars Pathfinder mission, was about the size of a milk crate and weighed 33 pounds. It landed using airbags on July 4, 1997, and stayed active 10 times longer than scheduled. The next missions were the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which were launched a few weeks apart and landed on opposite sides of the planet in the summer of 2003, also using airbag technology (NASA 1) . They both were the size of golf carts and outlasted their scheduled missions many times over. Curiosity landed in August 2012 and is the largest and most ambitious rover. The size and mass of a Mini Cooper, it survived a complex soft landing (Gibson 289). Curiosity also supports the most complex science, containing drills, lasers, and a small analytical laboratory. Curiosity can communicate with Earth in three ways. First, Curiosity can engage in direct communication from the rover to Earth’s Deep Space Network. Second, Curiosity can use a fast relay via the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Finally, Curiosity can utilize a slow relay to communicate via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scientific missions have focused on whether Mars once harbored flowing water. Specifically, the science studies Martian geology to determine how the rocks and soils formed (Jones 46-47). Based on how they form on Earth, many Martian discoveries appear to have followed a similar path, such as a long exposure to water or geology formed by intense heat and water. NASA has engaged in a few popular...
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...Pathfinder mission, was about the size of a milk crate and weighed 33 pounds. It landed using airbags on July 4, 1997, and stayed active 10 times longer than scheduled (NASA, Chronology of Mars Exploration 1). The next missions were the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which were launched a few weeks apart and landed on opposite sides of the planet in the summer of 2003, also using airbag technology. They both were the size of golf carts and outlasted their scheduled missions many times over. Curiosity landed in August 2012 and is the largest and most ambitious rover. The size and mass of a Mini Cooper, it survived a complex soft landing. Curiosity also supports the most complex science, containing drills, lasers, and a small analytical laboratory (Gibson 289). Curiosity can communicate with Earth in three ways. First, Curiosity can engage in direct communication from the rover to Earth’s Deep Space Network. Second, Curiosity can use a fast relay via the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Finally, Curiosity can utilize a slow relay to communicate via the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The scientific missions have focused on whether Mars once harbored flowing water. Specifically, the science studies Martian geology to determine how the rocks and soils formed (Jones 46-47). Based on how they form on Earth, many Martian discoveries appear to have followed a similar path, such as a long exposure to water or geology formed by intense heat and water. NASA has...
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...Cody Nitz Mars Rovers In the summer of 2003 we sent two rovers to Mars. These rovers where sent to Mars to give NASA a better understanding of the climate and water on Mars. With the technology that the Mars Rovers had it was like we were sending up two geologists. Spirit was the first rover to be sent off to Mars and it left June 10th, 2003 and landed January 3rd, 2004. It would be followed by Opportunity which was sent off on July 7th, 2003 and landed January 24th, 2004. NASA’s original goal for the rovers was very easy. They just wanted them to travel 40 meters in 1 day and to travel a total of 1 kilometer total. These rovers did that and a whole lot more and are currently still going. The design of these rovers came from the basic design of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder Mission. The rovers are identical they have 6 wheels and good suspension for driving over some harsh Mars surfaces. It has solar panels for its energy and also has radioisotope heater units for when the rover does not get a lot of sunlight. Each rover weighs 174 kilograms, is 1.6 meters long, and is 1.5 meters tall. The rovers also had a lot of heavy duty airbags for landing. These were very necessary because if any little piece broke it could affect the whole mission. The rovers also included different tools that would study the rocks and the surface of Mars to decide if there had ever been water on the planet. These tools consisted of a panoramic camera that helped the scientist from NASA...
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...9-603-062 REV. OCTOBER 29, 2002 DOROTHY LEONARD DAVID KIRON Managing Knowledge and Learning at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Downsizing at NASA over the last decade through attrition and buyouts has resulted in an imbalance in NASA’s skill mix.1 — The President’s Management Agenda, Fiscal Year 2002 By the end of this decade, many of the most experienced scientists and engineers at NASA and JPL are going to retire. If we don’t have systems in place to retain more of what they know, our institution is going to suffer. — Jeanne Holm, Chief Knowledge Architect for NASA In the spring of 2002, Jeanne Holm, Chief Knowledge Architect for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), was giving a tour of JPL. Stopping at a viewing stage above JPL’s mission control center, Holm explained the growing need for knowledge management at NASA: Almost 40% of JPL’s science and engineering workforce is currently eligible for retirement. In just four years, half of NASA’s entire workforce will be eligible. Many of these people are the most experienced project managers—the people who worked on Apollo (the mission to the Moon) and built the first space shuttle. Yet, we have few programs designed to bring their wisdom into our institutional memory. In the past 10 years, the budgets on our missions have been radically reduced, missions have multiplied ten-fold, and our scientists and engineers have been pushed...
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...CASSINI'S NAVIGATES ICE PLUMES ON ENCELADUS Cassini spacecraft was set to fly through plumes of water on Saturn’s moon Enceladus on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. Scientists recently discovered a salty ocean lying beneath the ice covering Enceladus similarly to one of Jupiter’s moon, Europa which is also believed to have a sub-ice ocean. The dive was designed to collect data about the mysterious subterranean salt water ocean on Enceladus. In this event, the craft will only be 30km on top of the surface, directly through the plumes where the spectrometers are planned on monitoring the chemical makeup of the liquid. PREVIOUS DISCOVERIES During the previous flybys, scientists had identified NaCl, CO2, and other organic molecules including methane,...
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...Americans, with most people thinking that Russia could see our every move and potentially use a nuclear weapon from space against us. Although these were reasonable ideas the Sputnik satellite was nothing more than a harmless silver ball with a blinking light on it. This was truly the beginning of the Space Race. The United States knew it was losing ground on the Soviets and had to even up the score fast, and Explorer-I was the answer for the United States. According to Ludwig, George H. (April 1959) “Explorer-I, officially known as Satellite 1958 Alpha, was the first United States earth satellite and was sent aloft as part of the United States program for the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958. It was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of the California Institute of Technology under the direction of Dr. William H. Pickering. The satellite instrumentation of Explorer-I was designed and built by Dr. James Van Allen of the State University of Iowa.” In 1958, President Dwight...
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...ANY MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES must be notified a.s.a.p. Failure to print work on the project in good time, or other machine-related failure will not be deemed to be a Mitigating Circumstance). Aims: • To show an understanding of the principles of vapour compression refrigeration cycle • To appreciate and apply thermodynamic analysis to a refrigerator • To show an understanding of the principles of a gas turbine power plant Specification of Assignment: The assignment comprises two parts: Part 1: Laboratory report on Refrigeration Experiment Part 2: Brief description of the gas turbine apparatus, its operation and sample calculation Specification of the material to be submitted: Marking Scheme Front cover: Title, name, group number, and the date of experiments Introduction and objectives of the Refrigeration Experiment 5% Sketch and brief description of the Refrigeration Experimental Setup 5% Refrigeration Laboratory Results (sample calculation for one of the tests) 35% Refrigeration Laboratory Discussion and Conclusions 35% Brief description of the gas turbine apparatus, its operation and sample calculation 20% Attendance to both labs (gas turbine and refrigeration) is compulsory. Marks will be given only to reports of students who attended both labs. 1 Thermal Power Systems...
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...Mission Name: Juno Objective: To improve our understanding of the solar system’s beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter. Mission Type: Orbit. Encounter date: July 2016 Operational dates: August 2011- October 2017 Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V-551 Lab/Agency: Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California/ NASA Scientific Instruments: - Microwave Radiometer – analyze the deep atmosphere at radio wavelengths of 1.3 cm to 50 cm. Uses six separate radiometers to measure the thermal emissions - Infrared Auroral Mapper – analyze the atmosphere down to pressures of 5-7 bars at wavelengths of 2-5 µm. Uses both a imager and spectrometer to create high definition images of the poles and how they relate to the magnetic field and magnetosphere. - Ultraviolet Spectrograph – measures the atmosphere in the 78 – 172 nm range. Also includes an imager and spectrometer to analyze the source of the atmospheric emmisions. Sources: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/spacecraft/index.html http://newfrontiers.nasa.gov/missions_juno.html http://juno.wisc.edu/spacecraft_instruments.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14412988 http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/40566/1/07-2266.pdf Juno was launched August 5, 2011 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The main mission of Juno was to understand the making of Jupiter and possibly all the other planets in the Universe. The main...
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...MODERN ART The realism art movement in painting began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution. The realist painters rejected Romanticism, which had come to dominate French literature and art, with roots in the late 18th century. The Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s. Impressionist painting characteristics include relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), and ordinary subject matter, inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience, and unusual visual angles. Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) is a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905; from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction against Impressionists’ concern for the naturalistic depiction of light and color. Due to its broad emphasis on abstract qualities or symbolic content, Post-Impressionism encompasses Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cloissonism, Pont-Aven School, and Synthetism, along with some later Impressionists' work. The movement was led by Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Georges Seurat. Expressionism...
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...establishment he announced in June 1940. The nuclear research was called uranium section (S-I) of NDRC. Research for the A-bomb started in the decade of the1930s. It was researched as a Quantum Physics’ topic. By that time, nobody knew the consequences of that research. In 1939, the discovery of nuclear fission became public. This was the start of making an Atom bomb. Series of experiment were started by this time. On December 2nd 1942, a sustainable chain reaction was observed. By mid-1942, the army took the control of research as it shifted research and development to engineering, reconstruction, and production. In 3 years, the Manhattan project was designed, built and operated as an industrial plant This task fell into the newly created laboratory for this purpose in Los Alamos, New Mexico which was operated under contract by the University of California. The official work started on April 15th 1943. This project had some problems like providing the fissionable material and the time pressure. Theoretical and experimental physicist joined in this project...
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...NASA Research Paper Chelsea Best 4138567 LSTD 300 Professor Kerney Since its beginning the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been pivotal in the scientific advancements made in the United States. Their vision, “To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind.” The scientist and researchers for NASA are trying to answer questions not just about the universe at large, but also about everyday human lives here on Earth. There are four focuses of NASA’s activity, called mission directives. Aeronautics, which focuses on meeting the worldwide demand for more eco-friendly and sustainable aircrafts. Human Exploration and Operations which involves operations on the International Space Station (ISS), developing commercial spaceflight and the ability for humans to explore beyond low-Earth Orbit. Scientist are exploring not only the Earth itself, but the universe beyond as well and works on charting the best exploration paths for us to continue discovering the universe. Space Technology is the final mission directive of NASA which combines elements from the others to develop and create the most innovative technology to aid future missions. NASA is also working hard to aid in the development of a private sector in space travel. Their hope is that by commercializing some aspects of space travel, such as routine trips to the ISS, more of their resources will be available for furthering their overall goals...
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...The Digitizing Process: How it works Introduction: With the development of multimedia technology comes the need to provide a system where visual art forms such as drawing, video, and photography have a way to be produced and represented by computer programs. And because computers store and manipulate data in a digital format, the process of digitizing has become central to the world of art and multimedia. History of Digitizing: Digital image processing began with work done through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California in the 1960s and consisted of digitizing television images of the moon’s surface sent by the spacecraft Ranger 7. Other uses included military intelligence, urban planning, medicine (such as the CAT Scan and the MRI), and of course digital video and photography (Digital Imaging, 1997). Digital Cameras: how they work When you take a picture with your digital camera it splits the light that passes through the lens into red, green and blue, various combinations of which make up all of the colors that we see with the naked eye. Then it focuses this light onto a very small area. Unlike film cameras, that direct the light onto a piece of film coated with silver, digital cameras must convert the light it registers into voltage. It does this by using photodiodes, devices coated with crystalline silicon that produce an electrical charge proportional to the amount of light that hits it. Many photodiodes strategically placed together make up a charge-coupled...
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...up to chunks of rock nearly 1,000 kilometers (621 miles across). Most of them orbit between Mars and Jupiter. A fleet of pint-sized satellites orbiting the sun could track down the majority of asteroids that threaten Earth's safety. Or that’s what a team of scientists now proposes. Others aren’t so sure. This plan has holes big enough to drive an asteroid through, some scientists charge. The U.S. Congress directed NASA, the nation’s space agency, to identify 90 percent of all asteroids wider than 140 meters (roughly 460 feet). Congress set a deadline of 2020. The space agency could meet the first goal using five miniature observatories, say scientists on a team that includes Michael Shao. He’s an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. All it would take, his group says, is to space the satellites out evenly just inside the orbit of Venus. Some astronomers have looked into building and launching a single space telescope, tasked with keeping its eye out for asteroids. Building it could take eight to 10 years and cost about half a billion dollars. But those five mini telescopes could do the same thing, Shao’s group proposed online March 29 on arXiv.org. Once launched, they could find all the high-risk asteroids in perhaps three years — and for just one-tenth a big telescope's cost. They would be really tiny Scott Higginbotham at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida holds a mini CubeSat. Used in recent years for many low-cost projects...
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